How to Support Health during Autumn
Autumn is a season of 2 halves. Abundance & conservation.
As we head towards Autumn, the last of summers abundance is harvested. Days get shorter, and suddenly the temperature drops, storms and winds arrive. Summers green is replaced by oranges, reds and finally brown.
Leaves fall, as nature sheds to conserve energy. The active, hot, outward ‘yang’ energy of summer is replaced with the slower, inwards, cold ‘yin’ energy.
It is helpful to be conscious of these changes in natures energy as it helps align our own. Seasonal transitions are a good reminder of life’s constant shifting and changing. Our mental & physical health will prosper from our ability to be flexible and readjust accordingly.
Within Traditional Medicine the period between seasons has a name, Doyo period. It is an 18 day period before a seasonal change where we are more vulnerable in body and mind. To counter act this vulnerability, focus is given to digestive system, the earth element.
5 Simple steps to support your digestive system + strengthen your earth element
Incorporate more semi-sweet root veggies; sweet potatoes, squashes, carrots.
Be more mindful and present while you eat; no multi tasking / screens/ reading. Focus on the task at hand - predigesting the food (chew properly).
Avoid overly spiced & complex flavours; simpler and neutral flavours.
Avoid drinking lots during you meal, it dilutes your digestive juices.
Skip raw foods for a while, go for steamed, stir fried, cooked veg.
Eat the rainbow - vary the produce you eat, our good gut bacteria thrive on fibers and phytonutrients in various foods. If we limit our range of foods we end up starving certain types of beneficial bacteria.
If you want more guidance on supporting digestion you can download my 10 concepts for better digestion.
Energies are changing….
If we consider that each season has a ‘energy pattern’ then the switch between seasons will bring fluctuations and turbulence as one energetic pattern gives way to the next. We can see this in the erratic weather patterns switches form sunshine and warmth to down pours and windy storms. These fluctuations effect our mental state, it’s worth noticing how you feel and taking note. For me, winds & storms making me feel unsettled, scattered or impatient. Sunshine activates me while rain will slow down my ambitions and winters darkness will reduce my wish to socialise and bring about a need to ‘rush home’. So in a way, as nature is realigning it’s energetic pattern into a new season my inner landscape is also going through a tumultuous readjustment.
How can we support ourselves and help realign our energy?
Sleep more, as the clocks turn back take advantage of the extra sleeping time. Sleep fortifies your immune system, rebuilds & repairs - protects your DNA, solidifies and improves your memory, plus protects against chronic diseases - cancer, diabetes, heart disease, cog-native diseases.
Slow down; summer is energetically our most ‘active’ time, change gears, take it down a notch, take 1 thing of your to-do list and save it for tomorrow, reduce your socialising, focus on more home time & self care.
Conserve energy; take your cue from nature, how can you conserve your energy? Look at what is no longer serving you - draining rather than giving energy.
Find your glimmers; we often forget to be conscious about things & moments of pleasure and happiness as we are wishing off towards the next ’thing we must do’, but these moments “glimmers” are there and if we acknowledge them we will feel more joy in our lives.
Food as medicine
Last but not least. How can we use food as medicine, to support our health during this time? If we have to slim it down to 4 ingredients to use in your cooking now during Autumn it would be - Ginger, Garlic, Thyme, and Daikon radish.
These support lung health opening airways, fight infections and clears respiratory toxins, contain immune beneficial phytonutrients, have anti-inflammatory properties. Plus they have an energetically warming quality, warming you up in these colder days.
Make it stand out
Easy ways to incorporate ginger, thyme, garlic, daikon
Add them to soups and stews, curries. Daikon is really nice to eat raw, alongside dairy it helps combat mucus build up. Grated or slices ginger in hot water is a lovely warming drink plus it helps activate digestion. Raw garlic is very potent, it can stop a cold in its tracks (just don’t eat it right before a big social event).
Let’s not forget…the sunshine vitamin
As the suns rays weaken and our outdoor skin exposure diminishes we can help support our immune system, hormones and mood by incorporating vitamin D rich foods into our meals;
Oily fish (SMASH: Salmon, Anchovies, Mackerel, Sardines, Herring )
Eggs
Dairy
Mushrooms (leave your mushrooms out in daylight this increases their Vitamin D level)
